The Hemangini Flying Squirrel

Their chattering was heard for miles. It was a piercing metallic scream; when you heard it you felt your skin was shrinking and ears bleeding. Today they are known only as the small metal skeletons adorning pubs and curio cabinets. The Hemangini flying squirrels once roamed these mountains; sharpening their alloyed teeth on whatever metal or ore they could find. Their favorite dietary supplement was worked metal. If left alone a single squirrel would consume an entire coin purse, ventilate someone’s armor or circumcise his sword. The dwarves labeled them an abomination and a holy war was declared.

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The natural consumers of Hemangini nuts I presume? This nicely anticipates a question regarding the trees: if you have naturally evolved plants using metal, it is very likely you have an ecosystem that uses metal. These squirrels can crack the metal nuts, are in turn hunted upon by silver foxes and copper falcons, who are in turn hunted by iron wolves or mithral eagles, etcetera. Of course, any species that literally eats money is in big trouble - though I can imagine a rogue setting some of these squirrels free in the vault of someone who did not pay the protection money....

For 100 words both of these submissions are great, gives an interesting new potential for a world whose primary resource is metal rather than stone/dirt. I would have liked to see what these submissions would have been in more than 100 words.

Yes Virginia, speculative biology goes beyond flora. I do wonder whether the ecosystem could truly support a metal creature as active as a squirrel, however. They'd almost certainly be restricted to groves of Hemangini trees.

Update: I never meant to suggest that they lived off of metal alone. I tried to change the write up to suggest that metal was only a part of their diet. But the point was to make an amusing counter part to the tree.

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A Cloak of Shadows that causes mushrooms to grow in its own shadow. A crouching theif might find himself in a ring of poisonous toadstools, an interesting thing for a sentry to find after the thief has left hiding place.